NCI Director Dr. Norman Sharpless describes how NCI’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs act as “engines of innovation” and shares recommendations from a federal working group for strengthening the programs.

An experimental CAR T-cell therapy may have potential as a treatment for several types of childhood cancer, results from a new study in mice suggest. The CAR T cells eradicated tumors in mouse models of several different childhood cancers, including two forms of sarcoma and medulloblastoma.

Researchers have found an unconventional way to unleash the immune system against liver cancer in mice. The researchers used an investigational drug to curb the production of a checkpoint inhibitor protein that shields tumors from the immune system.

FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to treat people with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and deadly form of skin cancer. The approval covers use of the drug to treat locally advanced or metastatic forms of the disease.

Pain is a common and much-feared symptom among people with cancer and long-term survivors. As more people survive cancer for longer periods, there is a renewed interest in developing new, nonaddictive approaches for managing their chronic pain.

People with advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), a rare cancer, appear to benefit from a type of immunotherapy called an immune checkpoint inhibitor, according to results from a small clinical trial.

On December 6, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with a standard three-drug regimen as an initial treatment for advanced lung cancer that does not have EGFR or ALK mutations.

A new study has identified a potential biomarker of early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The biomarker, the study’s leaders said, could help diagnose precancerous lung growths and early-stage lung cancers noninvasively and distinguish them from noncancerous growths.

FDA has approved venetoclax (Venclexta) and glasdegib (Daurismo) for use in people with acute myeloid leukemia aged 75 and older and those with health conditions that prevent them from receiving the intensive chemotherapy regimen that is the standard initial treatment.

Dr. Barbara Rimer, chair of the President’s Cancer Panel, summarizes the panel’s recent report on the HPV vaccine, which includes priorities and strategies to ensure that more people receive this critical cancer vaccine.

In women with early-stage breast cancer, two clinical trials have shown that both whole- and partial-breast radiation therapy are effective at preventing the cancer from returning after breast-conserving surgery.

NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless describes important decisions NCI leaders have recently made with respect to the institute’s fiscal year 2019 budget, including those related to the Cancer Moonshot and early-stage investigators.

Two new studies show how the drugs venetoclax (Venclexta) and azacitidine (Vidaza) team up to block the unique metabolism of leukemia stem cells and may explain why the drug combination is effective against acute myeloid leukemia.

In the largest-ever randomized trial testing vitamin D for cancer prevention, the supplement did not lower the risk of developing cancer. The Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL) includes a nationally representative sample of nearly 26,000 participants.